What do video game bosses do while waiting for the main character?
Your move, writer.
Some writers will find comedy in the mundane — a dragon doing crossword puzzles, a final boss practicing his villain monologue in a mirror, a horde of skeletons arguing about whose turn it is to guard the door. The gap between epic stakes and boring reality is where the laughs live.
Others might chase melancholy: a boss who has fought a thousand heroes and remembers none of their faces, or one who secretly hopes this player finally wins, so the story can end and everyone can rest. There's real tenderness in a monster who's tired of being the obstacle.
And some could go tactical — bosses swapping strategies in a break room, comparing notes on which players panic and which ones cheat. Treat the waiting itself as a job with coworkers, shift changes, and office politics.
Comments